In recent years, healthcare service providers have been making the transition from manual paper-based medical records to an electronic format. Commercially available computer software, such as PowerChart®, PowerChart Office®, and other Cerner Millennium® applications marketed by Cerner Corporation of Kansas City, Mo. have advanced the state of the art well beyond the conventional manual approach. Electronic-based records substantially increase the efficiency of healthcare providers and institutions. Electronic medical records (EMRs) also substantially reduce risks associated with high volumes of patient data and potential liabilities arising out of clerical errors or misinformation. The electronic format enhances communication between various providers and within institutions. As electronic clinical documentation continues to become increasingly prevalent, the variety of applications, electronic forms, electronic charts, and user interfaces, as well as the corresponding versatility of this format, continue to expand.
The data contained in EMRs is often useful to pharmaceutical or device companies, research organizations, and the like. Unfortunately, the data collection process is extremely time consuming, expensive, and often difficult. Electronic Data Capture streamlines the data collection process and increases the data accuracy for studies of drugs and medical devices.
When populating data for research, there is often more than one result collected in an electronic medical record (EMR) that applies to a particular item in a case report form. Current systems allow only one result to be electronically populated in the case report form during an integrated data capture session. If that result is not the appropriate value, some systems allow users to manually edit the value that was electronically transcribed from the EHR. Unfortunately, this may result in data discrepancies between the source documentation and the research database.